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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25769380">El Coco</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBitcher/pseuds/TheBitcher'>TheBitcher</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Black Lagoon (Anime &amp; Manga)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Asphyxiation, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, F/M, Heavy Angst, Implied/Referenced Torture, Love Confessions, Past Rape/Non-con, Psychological Torture, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, Torture</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 06:16:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,696</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25769380</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBitcher/pseuds/TheBitcher</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Do you suppose Balalaika believes in the Boogeyman?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Balalaika/Rebecca "Revy" Lee, Eda/Rebecca "Revy" Lee, Rebecca "Revy" Lee/Okajima "Rock" Rokuro, Rosarita/OC</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Balalaika I</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Near the beach, in an abandoned warehouse, Balalaika and Chang were supposed to meet. There had been a complication in regards to a treasure found by the Lagoon company out in the sea; they were originally sent out by Balalaika.</p><p>“This is really not worth the trouble,” Balalaika said, getting out of the car; there were three soldiers with her.</p><p>“No, it’s not,” Mr Chang also had three men with him. “But it’s not my choice,” he added.</p><p>As they talked, an eye looked at them through the scope of an R-700. The eye belonged to a man wearing a long black coat, proning on one of the containers. The gun was pointed at Balalaika’s face. He loaded the gun slowly and observed the situation.</p><p>“Then, why even bother?” Balalaika asked.</p><p>“It’s not my choice,” Chang seemed annoyed, “Apparently, what they have found is a lost national treasure.”</p><p>“So, what you’re saying is that the Lagoon company has found me a priceless treasure?” Balalaika asked.</p><p>The scope moved and focused on one of Balalaika’s men who was searching the area for any probable threats.</p><p>“That’s not how that works,” Chang said, “The issue is bigger than you and me; the order has come from top. You either give it to me, or it is war.”</p><p>“Is that a threat?” Balalaika asked, lighting her cigar.</p><p>“<em>I </em>am not the one threatening you. If we go to war, and I win, you die. If you win and kill me, they’ll send more, until they kill you. Let it go, Balalaika. It’s not our choice; I don’t like it any more than you do. You think I enjoy being manhandled like this?”</p><p>“I think-”</p><p>“Kapitan!” the guard looking around the area shouted.</p><p>The guards raised their guns; Chang and Balalaika drew theirs as well.</p><p>“Come see this,” The guard said.</p><p>The scope moved back to Balalaika’s face. “I wonder what roasted pork tastes like. I’ve never had it,” the man whispered to himself.</p><p>When Balalaika and Chang moved through a few containers, they noticed the car that the guard had noticed.</p><p>“I assume it was there since before we arrived,” the guard said.</p><p>Four guards remained with Balalaika and Chang, while two approached the car. The car seemed normal enough; the only odd thing was that a dark liquid was smeared all over the back seat. One of the guards slowly opened the back door, aiming his gun at the door. As the door opened, a few corpses fell out; all were Balalaika’s soldiers, except for one. Its skin was pale and dry, its face was caved-in, its eyes and nails were removed, and its teeth were broken. Balalaika barely recognised the man.</p><p>“Elroy,” she said.</p><p>“Who?” Chang asked.</p><p>Before Balalaika could answer, a cell-phone rang. They looked at each other, but it wasn’t one of theirs; it was coming from Elroy’s pocket. One of the guards pulled it out and put it on speaker. The man on the other side said something in Russian; Chang only made out one word, “Kapitan”. After that, he heard a beep-beep sound.</p><p>“Oh fuck!” Chang shouted as he dived behind one of the containers; Balalaika ran a few steps before diving. As they dived, the car blew up.</p><p>The two guards near the car were incinerated completely. Chang was fine; he had only a few scratches; Balalaika, on the other hand, had a piece of metal stuck in her left forearm, and a piece of glass in her right hand. They quickly jumped in their cars and drove away, trying to reach the hotel before she bled out. Chang got into the same car as Balalaika; he took off his shawl and pushed it against her hand as hard as he could. The guard who was with them wrapped her coat around her forearm.</p><p>“She’ll live,” the man told himself, putting his sniper rifle in its case.</p><p>“What the fuck was that?!” Chang asked.</p><p>“No idea,” Balalaika groaned.</p><p>“What did the guy say?”</p><p>“He said, ‘Kapitan, do you know of the woodcutter?”</p><p>“Woodcutter?”</p><p>“Why do you think I know?!” Balalaika screeched at him; there was clear pain and annoyance in her voice.</p><p>When they reached the destination, they got out of the car and ran towards the Hotel.</p><p>“Stop,” Chang said.</p><p>“What is it now?” Balalaika asked.</p><p>“Why are there so many cars in the front?” Chang’s question made Balalaika realise it as well.</p><p>Before she could say anything, Balalaika felt a heat against her skin, akin to the one she felt when she received her scars. A bright orange light blinded her eyes. She felt her body thrust backwards and fly through the air. Her ears rang loudly. Soon, everything went black, as she lost consciousness. The man in the black coat was leaning against a red motorcycle, looking at the burning cars in front of the hotel, with a detonator in his right hand.</p><p>When she opened her eyes, Balalaika found herself in a hospital bed; she recognised the room as one of the Hotel’s. Her arm and hand were stitched and bandaged. There was an IV attached to her. Her vision was blurry, but she recognised Dutch sitting by her bed. Boris was standing by the bed as well.</p><p>“What happened, comrade sergeant?” She grunted.</p><p>“Those cars you noticed in front of the Hotel,” Dutch said, “they were all filled with explosives. The front of the Hotel has suffered some significant damage.”</p><p>“How long was I out?”</p><p>“Around three days.” Boris replied.</p><p>“Who was behind it?” Balalaika asked.</p><p>“No one knows, Kapitan, but we know one thing: whoever attacked the Hotel has also attacked the Church of Violence. Similar cars appeared at the Church as well. The same kind of explosives were used.”</p><p>“And our men?”</p><p>“We have been looking all over the place trying-”</p><p>“How many did I lose?” Balalaika interrupted.</p><p>“Twelve dead, and seven injured,” Boris replied, “As far as I’m aware, the seven will most likely survive.”</p><p>“Twelve?” She said, “Damn it!” she punched the bed causing immense pain in her arm.</p><p>“Easy,” Dutch said, “I came here because we may have something.”</p><p>“Talk,” she demanded.</p><p>“Revy says that she has seen a similar thing, all the way back when she was in prison.”</p><p>“She has been in prison?”</p><p>“Supposedly. Back to your bomber, Revy says she knows him.”</p><p>“Does she now?”</p><p>“Yeah. Apparently, he’s an explosives engineer; no one knows his actual name. As a matter of fact, no one really knows anything about him, except for one thing.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“He sings when he’s killing; no one knows what he looks like. The only way people recognise him is by the singing because he always repeats the same tune. Although, I think Revy has seen his face, but she refuses to talk about it.”</p><p>“He killed my men!” She shouted, “If she knows something, she needs to talk, or I’ll make her talk!”</p><p>The phone that was on the nightstand by Balalaika’s bed started ringing.</p><p>“Yes?” Dutch answered, since he was closer to it.</p><p>All he heard was humming; the melody was sorrowful and familiar, yet Dutch couldn’t put his finger on it.</p><p>“Are you <em>him</em>?” Dutch wanted to be sure.</p><p>The reply was more humming. After a few seconds, the humming man hung up. The phone slipped and fell from Dutch’s hand, “We’re fucked. It is <em>him</em>.”</p><p>“I’m not afraid of him,” Balalaika said, “Hotel Moscow has faced far worse.”</p><p>“No, it hasn’t” Revy walked into the room.</p><p>“He’s one man,” Balalaika said.</p><p>“And four-eyes was only one woman,” Revy replied, “This fucker is worse than her. Your fellow Russians call him ‘the Czar of Forest.’ Do you know why?”</p><p>“He is the Czar?” Balalaika recognised the title.</p><p>“So, you’ve heard of him,” Revy said, sitting beside Dutch.</p><p>“The Russian government has been after him for years.” Boris said, “They managed to corner him in Primorye. Thirty Spetsnaz members went after him, only two came back with him captured and bloody; they had dared to wound him. They threw him into a gulag. He spent his time in there plotting, planning, getting ready, healing. A month later, he escaped, burning the place down. A week later, the two remaining Spetsnaz were found annihilated in their homes, alongside their family members.”</p><p>“Annihilated?” Dutch asked.</p><p>“Their bodies were mauled, torn and scattered across their houses,” Balalaika said, “He had eradicated them, erased them from existence.”</p><p>“I had never heard the full story,” Revy said, “But you have, so you know why we’re fucked. What’s your plan?”</p><p>“Hold on,” Dutch asked, “Why should we get involved?”</p><p>“Because we are buddies with Balalaika,” Revy said, “Did you miss the part about the family members?”</p><p>“Fuck,” Dutch said.</p><p>“Fuck indeed,” the door opened and two smoke grenades flew into the room.</p><p>Boris, Dutch and Revy quickly drew their guns. A loud gunshot was heard; the slide of a Desert Eagle moved back and forth; the bullet missed Dutch’s head by a millimetre. He felt the wind brush against his temple as the bullet went by. Revy blindly shot into the smoke with both of her guns; she did hear a grunt of pain, but one of Balalaika’s men came through the smoke, with bullet holes all over him; Revy noticed the grenades attached to the soldier’s body.</p><p>“Take cover!” she shouted.</p><p>The soldier fell on his face, putting the grenades between him and the floor. Balalaika had already removed her IV; she grabbed the bed with both hands and dropped it to the side, causing her wounds to open up and bleed. Boris, Dutch and Revy joined her behind the bed. When the grenades went off, most of the shrapnel flew into the floor and the soldier’s body.</p><p>“Tear gas,” Boris said, coughing heavily.</p><p>A man, more akin to an animal, exploded out of the smoke, his face hidden behind a gasmask, wielding a pair of Desert Eagles. Both guns had the same carving, a flower on the slide, with its stem wrapping itself around the carving of a woman on the grip.</p><p>“Those can shoot through the bed!” Dutch’s teary eyes barely recognised the guns as Desert Eagles.</p><p>Dutch grabbed Revy and Balalaika and jumped through the window, with the man shooting from behind; a bullet brushed Boris’s right shoulder and wounded it as he leaped. Dutch, Balalaika, and Revy landed on a car below, while Boris landed on the ground. Balalaika’s wounds were bleeding heavily; she was dizzy, but she gathered her strength and picked up Revy’s gun, since she had noticed the man aiming his guns at Boris who was out cold. Her vision was blurry, so she just emptied the magazine, aiming at the general vicinity of the window. The man disappeared into the smoke. Nowhere to be found.</p><p>“Not again,” Balalaika said as she was passing out due to blood loss.</p><p>Later, away from Hotel Moscow, when the sun went down, Chang got ready to go to bed; however, he felt a strange sensation, as if being watched. He picked up his guns and checked every corner of his house, but no one was there. He laid down on the king-sized bed, pulled the blankets on, and went to sleep. He was lying on his rights side for a few minutes, then turned to the left only to face a man lying in bed with him.</p><p>“Boo,” the man said sarcastically.</p><p>Chang was so surprised that when he jumped back, he fell off of the bed. The man sat up, smiling, and pointing his gun at Chang. Chang looked at him; because it was dark, he couldn’t see the man’s face clearly; the only thing he managed to make out was the man wearing a hoodie. Chang then looked at his guns on the nightstand.</p><p>“Don’t bother, officer,” the man said, “I’ve emptied them.”</p><p>The man kept talking, but Chang was stuck on the word “officer.” <em>How does he know? </em>he thought to himself, <em>Rock? Balalaika? Who?</em></p><p>“Officer?” the man snapped his fingers.</p><p>“Yeah?” Chang said.</p><p>“Are you listening?”</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“I suggest you do if you want to keep your ears.”</p><p>“What do you want?” Chang asked, reaching for his sunglasses next to his guns; the man didn’t seem bothered by it. Now, Chang was sure that his guns were empty.</p><p>“I want you to stay home,” the man said.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“I aim to kill that Russian slut. I want you to step aside and let me do it. Don’t get involved.”</p><p>“Why shouldn’t I?” Chang asked, “Yes, she is a rival, but her death would change the power balance, leaving a vacuum to swallow us all.”</p><p>“Why shouldn’t you?” the man asked, “Disgusting! Once, you wanted to rule this city. Once, you called this city ‘mine’. Now-”</p><p>“It <em>is </em>my city,” Chang declared.</p><p>“The way I see it,” the man said with a sarcastic tone, “Balalaika is the one who can go to world war III and win it not you.”</p><p>“People say a lot of things,” Chang got up and sat on his bed, “Not many of them are true. Yes, Balalaika has soldiers, but she doesn’t have the connections.”</p><p>“Only a fool trusts CIA,” the man said.</p><p>Even though Chang was wearing his sunglasses, it was obvious that his eyes were wide open. The mention of CIA had assured that he wouldn’t sleep that night or any of the following nights, until he knew who this man is.</p><p>“And what if I told you I know the name of your precious CIA connection?” the man got up to leave, “Stay out of this war, and I’ll tell you her name.”</p><p>“So, it’s a woman,” Chang said.</p><p>“One last thing,” the man stopped, “Teach your guards to be more thorough when they’re checking their food. Of course, you’ll have to wait, until they wake up.”</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Revy I</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey, I finally decided to update this. Let me know if you want more.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“What’s wrong, bitch? Don’t like it?”</p><p>“Fuck you,” Revy grunted.</p><p>“Aww,” the man pushed her face into the pillow, “I always liked kittens who fight back.”</p><p>He was overweight and hairy, looked to be in his mid-fifties. His right hand pushed the back of her head, making sure her face was shoved into the pillow; she could barely breathe. His left hand was wrapped around the back of her neck, tightening his grip, trying to make her scream. Revy couldn’t move under his fat body; her hands were cuffed to the bed. She kept pulling her hands, causing her wrists to bleed. He did a lot of things to her, but Revy never screamed; she didn’t give him the gratification. To hold the pain in, she bit on her lower lip; it was cut open, bleeding, but she never screamed. Then, a gunshot. The gunshot was always the last thing she heard.</p><p>Dutch woke up in a panic, falling off his chair, looking around for the source of the scream he heard. Revy was sitting straight, on the sofa. She was panting; her body was soaking in sweat. Her eyes were wide open, her irises were as small as lentils. Her jaw kept shaking as she tried to talk. Her body was shaking; it was clear that she was cold.</p><p>“Revy?” Dutch reached out to her.</p><p>As soon as his hand touched her, she punched him in the face. She looked even more horrified when she realised what she had done. Quickly putting on her clothes, she ran outside. Dutch was quick to follow her. When he got outside, she was gone; he looked around, checked the nearby streets but couldn’t find her.</p><p>It wasn’t the first time Revy had had that nightmare, and she was sure that it wasn’t the last. It always ended with the gunshot, couldn’t remember the rest. She kept walking from street to street, trying to calm herself. She went through an entire pack of cigarettes in around an hour and half. After wandering through the empty city for some more minutes, she went back to the Lagoon office.</p><p>“Let me see,” Revy said.</p><p>“It’s not broken,” Dutch said, removing the towel.</p><p>It was a nasty cut; the bleeding had stopped.</p><p>“Sorry,” Revy looked down, “I was panicking; I didn’t recognise you.”</p><p>“It’s alright,” Dutch said, “As long as you don’t make a habit of it.”</p><p>“Can I go?” Revy asked, “I need some time alone.”</p><p>“It’s alright.”</p><p>Revy wandered like a ghost haunting Roanapur. She didn’t know where she was; she just kept walking from street to street. After the 20<sup>th</sup>, she stopped counting the cigarettes she had smoked. She was out for a few hours; it was around four in the morning when she found herself standing in front of the door to Rock’s room in the motel.</p><p>Rock woke up to a loud banging; someone was knocking his door. He put on a t-shirt and ran to the door.</p><p>“Revy?” Rock was surprised.</p><p>Revy walked in without saying a word. She just stood at the middle of the room.</p><p>“Do we have a rush-job?” Rock asked, closing the door.</p><p>Revy didn’t reply; she just stood there.</p><p>“Revy?” Rock grabbed her shoulders and shook her a little bit. Revy turned around, grabbed Rock’s collar, pulled his head down, and push her lips against his. When their lips separated, Revy noticed the surprised expression on Rock’s face. After a few moments of awkward silence, Rock put his right hand on her cheek and kissed her. Revy pushed him towards the bed, kissing him the whole way. When he fell on the bed, she straddled him. She pushed him on his back and shoved her tongue in his mouth. He kept sucking on it, while his hands wandered around her body and grabbed her ass.</p><p>Revy pulled away, sat up on his crotch, and took off her holsters. Rock sat up, wrapped his arms around her, gave her a quick kiss then grabbed the back of her tank top and pulled up; she raised her arms, so it would come off easily. Underneath, she wasn’t wearing a bra.</p><p>Revy let herself go, falling lower and lower and lower; she pushed the nightmares away, trying to forget them. Rock’s tender touch helped with that. Soon, Revy was moaning and grunting in pleasure; she had completely forgotten the nightmares. She was so drowned in her senses that she completely lost track of time, like a drunk drowning herself at the bottom of a bottle. Before she knew it, her exhausted and sweaty body fell and hit the bed; she laid there spent, shivering. The last thing she felt before falling asleep was Rock’s arms wrapping around her, warming her up.</p><p>“Ah fuck,” Revy said with annoyance, “It’s already morning.”</p><p>“Something wrong with that?” Rock spooned her from behind, kissing her neck.</p><p>“I wanted more,” Revy said passively.</p><p>“You can come back any time you want,” Rock chuckled.</p><p>“I’m sure you’d love that,” Revy said sarcastically.</p><p>“You alright?” Rock asked, kissing her shoulder, “Your mouth tasted like charcoal; how many had you smoked?”</p><p>Revy quickly pulled herself out of his arms and got out of the bed. “Listen here,” she raised her voice, “I did it because it makes me feel good. We’re not in love or some shit like that; if you can’t drill that into your head, then I’ll walk out and never come back here again. You get that?” Revy didn’t notice that she was pointing her finger at him and spiting all over the place as she shouted. “I don’t want your pity or your sad-boy faces. I just want…” She was choking on her tears trying to hold them back, “I…” She started panting heavily, “I just want…”</p><p>Rock got out of the bed quickly and embraced her; she remained in his arms for a few seconds trying, as hard as she could, to hold her tears back. When she realised she was going to fail, she pushed Rock aside and put on her clothes as fast as possible. Rock was saying something, but Revy was so focused on keeping her tears at check that she heard his voice as white noise. She rushed to the door trying to put on her boots; she tripped and hit her face against the door. She ran outside with a bleeding nose.</p><p>The motel owner was walking by when he stopped at Rock’s door and looked inside. “Not bad for a city boy,” he said pointing at Rock’s crotch.</p><p>Rock quickly slammed the door shut when he realised he was still naked. He leant his back against the door and let himself slip down. He closed his eyes thinking about Revy. <em>What the fuck was that?</em> He thought to himself.</p><p>An hour later, Rock put on his shirt and tie, and went to the Lagoon company office; when he opened the door, two men pulled him in, bent him over the table, and put a gun to his head.</p><p>“Who have we pissed off this time?” Rock asked with a tired voice. From the corner of his eyes, he could see Revy standing behind the sofa with both of her guns pulled and aimed at the two men holding Rock; behind her, a man was pointing a handgun at her head. Mr Chang was sitting on the sofa. “Mr Chang?” Rock asked with a nervous voice, “Something wrong?”</p><p>Mr Chang noticed Revy’s expression; her eyebrows hanging low, her eyes half-open, the corners of her lips slightly bent downwards; she seemed disinterested, but Chang knew that expression too well. He had seen it on people who had finally snapped under all the pressure. “What’s wrong, Two Hands?” Mr Chang decided to taunt her to get a better grip of the situation, “You look-”</p><p>“Don’t,” Revy’s monotone voice said as she pointed one of her guns at Mr Chang and pulled back the hammer.</p><p>“You look like someone who has nothing to lose,” Mr Chang had his usual smile.</p><p>“Maybe I don’t,” Revy said.</p><p>“Revy,” Rock shouted, “Listen to me. Don’t be stupid!”</p><p>When Dutch opened the door and entered, the guard by the door went to grab him; Dutch took a step back and punched the guard in the face, dropping him. “What’s up?” Dutch said with a smile on his face, staring at Mr Chang.</p><p>“I came here to retrieve the artifact you had found for Balalaika,” Mr Chang said, “I explained that Balalaika and I have reached an agreement, but Revy decided to be rude and yell at me. When I insisted, she pulled a gun on me.”</p><p>“Did she now?” Dutch asked rhetorically with a disappointed tone, staring at Revy.</p><p>“Balalaika hasn’t said anything,” Revy said.</p><p>“I’m sure that’s the only reason,” Mr Chang said, smiling.</p><p>“What’s that supposed to mean?” Revy asked.</p><p>“Some people are just looking for a bullet to save them from their miserable life.”</p><p>“Maybe I should give you yours,” Revy snapped.</p><p>“I saw one of her men,” Dutch interrupted, “Give it to Mr Chang, Revy.”</p><p>Revy bit her lower lip as she lowered her guns and went to one of the small rooms, bringing a package out; she put it on the table before Mr Chang, not handing it directly to him. Mr Chang picked up the package without checking and went to the door. The two men let go of Rock.</p><p>“Not gunna check it?” Rock asked, getting up.</p><p>“No,” Mr Chang said, “I trust you people.” Before leaving, Mr Chang turned to face Rock. “Hey, Revy,” he said, punching Rock in the gut, dropping him to his knees, “Try not to be a nuisance; it’s bad for business.”</p><p>Revy walked towards Chang at a fast pace, almost running, moving past Rock who was still on the ground; her right hand came up next to her face and formed a fist. Before she could swing, Rock, who was now standing behind her, grabbed her wrist and stopped her. Mr Chang stared at Revy from over his sunglasses, revealing his dead eyes. Revy’s eyes widened as she realised what she was doing. She freed her wrist from Rock’s grip and ran outside.</p><p>“Keep her at bay,” Mr Chang said.</p><p>“I’m sorry, Mr Chang,” Rock said, “It’s my fault not hers.”</p><p>“I hate drama,” Mr Chang muttered to himself as he left. He knew that the Lagoon didn’t pose a serious threat; he could crush them whenever he wanted. For now, he had something more important to attend to. As Mr Chang got into his car, the driver handed him a cell-phone.</p><p>“Nothing, sir,” the voice behind the line said.</p><p>“<em>Nothing?!</em>” Chang was enraged, “No hospital records, no name drops, no criminal records?! Nothing?!”</p><p>“Absolutely nothing, sir. The only information that came up is what Hotel Moscow has already told us.”</p><p>“Damn it!” Mr Chang threw away the cell-phone and opened the package; it was empty.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chang I</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Do you wish to be spoiled?</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“<em>Empty?!</em>” Chang shouted, looking at the package, “Driver, turn-”</p><p>“What the fuck?” the driver shouted.</p><p>Chang was in the back seat of the second car, so he hadn’t noticed, but there was a car driving against the traffic; it was a red Telstar Sedan. The first car moved out of the way, but as the Sedan approached Chang’s car, it moved to their left. The two cars passing by each other, the driver of the Sedan reached out of the window, aiming his gun at Chang’s car; the bullet went through the driver’s head and hit the back seat, missing Chang by a centimetre.</p><p>Chang dived forwards to grab the wheel, but it was too late; the car crashed into the median strip. A tree branch went through the wind shield and pierced the chest of the guard sitting next to Chang. <em>Goddamn asshole!</em> Chang thought to himself, <em>where did he come from? </em>He drew both of his guns before getting out of the car, the right of his forehead bleeding, and his sunglasses twisted and misshaped. He shot at least five rounds at the Sedan that had stopped at the middle of the street.</p><p><em>Damn it, </em>Chang thought, <em>I’m out in the open. </em>He ran for the alley that was on the other side of the street. “The Sedan,” he shouted at his men who were getting out of the first car, “He’s in the red Sedan.” <em>Four aren’t enough to take him, but they’ll give me enough time to gather my thoughts and come up with a plan.</em> As he entered the alley, he heard the loud roar of a gun. <em>Desert Eagle? It’s the same guy! He probably knows I’m looking for info on him.</em></p><p>Running through the alleys, he realised that he was near the Yellowflag. <em>If I reach it, </em>he thought, <em>I can stir shit up and get the Cartel involved; they’ll keep him busy, while I get away.</em> As he was running past a garbage bin, the vase on top of it exploded into a dozen pieces. “Officer!” he heard a voice call from behind.</p><p>Chang dived into the alley to his left, rolled back to his feet, turned around, and aimed his guns at the entrance of the alley. Chang was expecting the man to run after him, rushing in, giving him an easy target, but no one came. Suddenly, the man exploded out of the window above Chang’s head; he came flying down, roaring like a mad tiger, his guns screaming as he opened fire on Chang. Chang jumped out of the way and started shooting. As the man landed, Chang kicked in the door of a house and ran in. The man took cover beside the door, carefully pointing his gun in and taking a look.</p><p>“He’s already gone,” a horrified woman said from the inside, “He ran outside.”</p><p><em>That should fool him,</em> Chang thought, holding his gun against the woman’s temple. <em>I’ll get him when he rushes in to chase me down.</em> The kitchen was opposite to the door; Chang was crouching behind the counter with one gun aimed at the door, and the other on the woman’s temple. There was a door to Chang’s left that led outside; he had kicked it open, giving the impression that he had run outside.</p><p>“Chang,” Chang heard a voice call out to him from his left. The man was standing at the door, aiming his gun at him. <em>How the fuck…?</em> Chang thought to himself. The man, with his gun, pointed at something behind Chang. When Chang turned around, he noticed a mirror that was on the fridge. “Motherfucker,” Chang exclaimed.</p><p>“Well,” the man said, “I’ve made mistakes too, but mine weren’t mortal ones.” All of a sudden, bullets came flying through the air; the man ran away as quickly as he could. He got shot in the back twice but kept running.</p><p>“Mr Chang!” Chang heard his men call out to him, “We just arrived! We’ll go after him!”</p><p>“Leave him be,” Chang shouted back, “You can’t take him.” As Chang got up to leave, he reached into his pocket and put some money on the counter. “For your trouble,” he said, looking at the woman. The woman didn’t say anything; she just sat there, crying.</p><p>Chang reached into his pocket and pulled out a new pair of sunglasses, putting them on. <em>He must have someone on the inside,</em> he thought to himself, <em>first, he breaks into the tower like it’s nothing, and now, he knows where I would be, even though I hadn’t told anyone. Who is this jackass?</em></p><p>“Mr Chang,” one of the men said as they reached him, “Who was that guy?”</p><p>“Captain Black,” Chang murmured to himself.</p><p>“Parden?” the man asked.</p><p>“He reeked of Captain Black tobacco,” Chan said louder, “We don’t have that kind of tobacco here; it’s manufactured in the States, but that gives us nothing. You can get that stuff in other countries as well. <em>Shit!</em>” Chang kicked an empty can that was lying on the ground.</p><p>One of Chang’s men went to the end of the alley where the man had gotten shot, without saying a word. Chang’s lackey had noticed something fall off of the man when he got shot; it was a pack of cigarettes, with no sign of blood anywhere. He brought the pack back and gave it to Chang.</p><p>“Now,” Chang said with a big smile, “this is something.”</p><p>“How come?” the lackey asked.</p><p>“It’s Kent,” Chang said, “Kent is mostly found in Eastern Europe and Middle East. You can find them here or in other countries as well, but this specific type, Kent Blue, is found mostly, if not only, in the Middle East.”</p><p>As Chang and his men got back into the street to leave, they noticed another one of their cars approaching; two of the Triad members came out.</p><p>“Mr Chang,” one of the men said sheepishly, with his voice shaking, “we have a problem, a big one.”</p><p>“What is it?” Chang asked.</p><p>“Sir, do you have the artifact that the Lagoon Company had found?”</p><p>“No, the package was empty. We’re going back there right now.”</p><p>“That won’t be necessary. We have found it.”</p><p>“Where is it?” Chang asked with excitement.</p><p>The man did not reply.</p><p>“What is it?!” Chang got angry.</p><p>“The Cartel has it, sir.”</p><p>“<em>What?!</em>”</p><p>“Apparently, a man went to them with it and gave it to them for free, telling them that it will help them…” the man trailed off.</p><p>“<em>Help them what?!</em>” Chang was outraged.</p><p>“Help them,” the man whimpered, “fuck you in the ass.” When the man noticed the pack of cigarettes in Chang’s hands, he said, “the Cartel guy that we captured said the man selling the artifact was smoking Kent, and that was the only noticeable thing about him. He had a plain, ordinary face; no scars, no birthmarks, nothing.”</p><p><em>He must’ve realised I’m working against him as soon as I started, </em>Chang thought to himself, <em>There’s no doubt about it; he has someone on the inside.</em> Chang got into the car and told the driver to take him to the Lagoon Company.</p><p>“You asked for me?” Eda asked, sitting down on the chair, with sister Yolanda opposite to her.</p><p>“Yes, my dear,” sister Yolanda said in her usually calm tone, “We have a problem.” She put an envelope on the table before her, “This arrived today; it’s concerning, to say the least.”</p><p>Eda picked up the envelope and opened it; inside, there were pictures of her next to other CIA agents in a formal celebration. On the back of one of the pictures, it read “Someone knows your secret and will tell it to Chang.” Eda put down the pictures, contemplating for a few moments.</p><p>“No idea who sent them?” Eda finally asked.</p><p>“No,” sister Yolanda said, “There is talk of a bogyman visiting Roanapur.”</p><p>“Bogyman?” Eda asked skeptically.</p><p>“El Coco,’ they call him. They say he ‘makes people disappear, swallowing them whole.”</p><p>“It’s him,” Eda said.</p><p>“What?” sister Yolanda seemed confused.</p><p>“He is the ‘someone’ mentioned in the letter,” Eda replied, “We don’t know where he is from; some say Romanian, some say Colombian, some say Middle Eastern, and the list goes on and on. He is an animal, a rabid dog. He has helped CIA in…” Eda paused, “in confidential operations. I personally have been on the field with him; the mutilated bodies that he left behind that day are the reason I’m siting here today, capable of breathing.” Even though Eda was wearing her pink sunglasses, sister Yolanda could easily see the distraught expression on her face.</p><p>“Apparently, he refers to himself as the ‘woodcutter,” sister Yolanda said, “Does that ring any bells?”</p><p>“No,” Eda said with disappointment, “There’s only the question of who knows about El Coco and me? The sender of this envelope.”</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Balalaika II</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Time for a small war.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I made two references in this one; one is around the middle, and the other is at the end. They may come off as cringy, but I couldn't resist. XD</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Kapitan,” Boris said, entering the room. Balalaika hadn’t fully recovered yet, but she was back on duty again. “Something has come up.”</p><p>“What is it?” Balalaika asked putting her cigar on the ashtray, “Have you found anything?”</p><p>“Our soldiers had a run in with him,” Boris said with a sigh, “Two are heavily wounded, and seven are dead.”</p><p>“<em>He has killed more?!</em>” Balalaika got up, shouting.</p><p>“It’s personal for him, Kapitan,” Boris said, “we know he killed seven only because the group going in was composed of nine men; two wounded, so that leaves seven.”</p><p>“What do you mean?” Balalaika asked, even though she knew what she was about to hear.</p><p>“Their corpses are mutilated, torn apart, mixed together; there is no way of differentiating.” Boris looked at the floor, sorrow and shame filling his face.</p><p>“Anything else?” Balalaika hadn’t noticed it, but she had pushed her nails deep into her palm, causing it to bleed. The setting sun was shining through the window, giving her face a red, vengeful aura. Soon, Roanapur would see Balalaika’s wrath once more.</p><p>“The two survivors,” Boris said, “they were left alive on purpose; they were supposed to bring back a message, but neither one can talk. They are unconscious at the moment, and whenever they wake up, they scream in horror. We don’t know what he did to them.”</p><p>“Don’t force them to talk,” Balalaika said, “Let them rest.” She pulled out her handkerchief and pressed it against the small cuts on her palm. She put her hand on Boris’s shoulder and said, “He will pay for it; we will make sure of that.”</p><p>“Yes, Kapitan,” Boris returned.</p><p>Soldiers rolled out of Hotel Moscow; the entirety of Roanapur hid in horror. Chang was revisiting the Lagoon Company when he noticed the soldiers going through the streets, with Balalaika leading them personally.</p><p>“Knee deep in blood again,” Dutch said, recalling Revy saying the same the last time Hotel Moscow went to war.</p><p>“Knee deep in Hotel Moscow’s blood,” Chang said lighting a cigarette.</p><p>“How come?”</p><p>“Look at them; there aren’t many soldiers. She thinks she can end it with two dozen soldiers. I’ve faced this El Coco personally; he’ll be worse than the Blood Hound.”</p><p>“I doubt anything will be worse than her,” Dutch said with a sigh.</p><p>“He is,” Chang said looking at Dutch, “Unlike Roberta, this guy hides, shoots you in the back, plots and schemes.”</p><p>“Plots and schemes are the same thing,” Dutch smirked.</p><p>“You need something to smoke him out with,” Chang said, opening the door to leave, “At any rate, I would go after Two Hands if I were you. She is out there right now, isn’t she? Alongside Rock.”</p><p><em>He will pay,</em> Balalaika promised herself, <em>for every last one of you, he will pay! Rest assured comrades.</em></p><p>Near the Yellowflag, a man was standing on the rooftop of a rather tall building, holding a photograph in his left hand. “She will pay,” the man promised to himself, “Soon, the monster who took you from me will feel the cold axe of the woodcutter on her neck.”</p><p>Moments later, the man entered the Yellowflag. “Milk,” he said. The whole bar burst into laughter.</p><p>“What a pussy!” someone shouted with laughter.</p><p>“Need a tampon, honey?” someone else shouted.</p><p>The man reached into his pocket and put around a grand on the counter. “For the repairs,” he said, pulling out a pair of Desert Eagles. Silence quickly overtook the bar. “I suggest you leave,” the man said, “Hotel Moscow is coming.”</p><p>“If the Russian is after you,” one of people in the bar said, “then, we can hand her your corpse and get some good money.”</p><p>“She’ll kill you,” the man said, “It’s personal; she wants to be the one who pulls the trigger.”</p><p>“Then, we’ll capture you alive.”</p><p>“You will shoot to capture, while I shoot to kill. Who do you think would win?”</p><p>The sound of two vehicles came from outside; two jeeps stopped and the soldiers of Hotel Moscow poured out.</p><p>“Cock your hammers, oh brave soldiers of Hotel Moscow,” the man said as a euphoric expression took over his face, “and march into the hell that your Kapitan has made for you.”</p><p>Three grenades rolled into the bar; the man jumped behind the counter in a flash. As the grenades went off, the shrapnel hit both the Cartel members and the bounty hunters in the bar; they all ran out of the back door when they realised they were outnumbered. One soldier came in, taking cover behind the column to the right, followed by another soldier who went left and took cover behind the table nearest to the door. Two more soldiers came in and stood in the middle. All of them were aiming their guns at the counter. Four more soldiers were standing outside, aiming through the windows. The last soldier stayed in one of the jeeps and radioed to the others, telling them they had found the so called “El Coco.”</p><p>“Come out!” one of the soldiers in the middle shouted, “It’s over.”</p><p>“On the contrary,” the man said from behind the counter, “it is just the beginning.”</p><p>The soldier in the jeep noticed the two cars parked in front of the Yellowflag; they were the same as the ones that exploded in front of Hotel Moscow. “<em>Take cover!</em>” the soldier shouted.</p><p>Balalaika was close enough to hear the explosion. “Faster,” she commanded the driver. When they arrived, the Yellowflag was burning, with flames raging in every corner. The soldiers were checking every corner carefully, even Balalaika herself was out on the field with her handgun drawn.</p><p>The slide of a Desert Eagle moved back and forth and a gunshot was heard; one of the soldiers hit the ground with his skull blown open. A man, akin to a tiger, exploded out of the flames, running towards the alley nearby, shooting two soldiers down on his way. Boris missed, but Balalaika managed to shoot the man in the back; the man stumbled, yet kept running. Twelve soldiers remained.</p><p>“<em>That bastard!</em>” Balalaika shouted, looking at the corpses of his men.</p><p>“Kapitan,” Boris said calmly.</p><p>“I’m sorry, Comrade sergeant,” Balalaika lowered her voice and got a grip of her emotions, “Let us proceed.”</p><p>The soldiers approached the entrance of the alley and took cover; as they cautiously entered, they realised that the alley led to three more alleys. They split into three four-man teams with Balalaika on one team and Boris on the other. The third group was to stand guard at the entrance in case the man came back.</p><p>Boris’s team moved to the alley on the left, with Boris and two soldiers moving in a triangular shape and the last soldier, behind them, watching their six. Boris noticed the open door of a house to their right; he waved with his hand. The soldier to his right went inside. Suddenly, an ear-piercing explosion was heard; Boris and the two soldiers ran inside only to find the third soldier’s corpse with countless holes in his body. “Claymore,” Boris said.</p><p>Hearing the explosion, Balalaika’s team rushed towards Boris’s location; when they arrived, they realised that the man wasn’t there. “He probably implanted it before we arrived,” Balalaika deduced.</p><p>They heard gunshots coming from where they had left the third team. “It was a distraction!” Boris said. When they arrived at the entrance of the alley, they found two of the soldiers dead and one lying on the ground, with his spilled guts in his hands. “He…” the soldier coughed up blood, “He came from behind… I… I…” the soldier struggled to breathe.</p><p>“Don’t speak” Balalaika said, kneeling before the soldier, “You’ll only make it harder.”</p><p>“Kapitan,” the man gasped, “it hurts.” Tears were rolling down his eyes. He pulled out his sidearm, aiming it towards himself. “Kapitan,” the man whimpered, grabbing into Balalaika’s coat with his bloody hand, “Help me.”</p><p>Realising what he meant, Balalaika nodded quietly with a determined expression and tearful eyes. She grabbed onto the soldier’s hands and the gun he was holding. She closed her eyes, and together, they pulled trigger. Balalaika had killed men and women before, both on the battlefield and in Roanapur, but this was the hardest for her, even harder than her first.</p><p>Balalaika stared at the bloody handprint on her coat. The roaring sound of a gunshot snapped her out of it; the face of the soldier standing beside her exploded and his brain splattered on her face. Balalaika noticed the man standing at the middle of the street, staring her dead in the eyes. As she raised her gun, the man dived behind a parked car and took cover. Balalaika and his men took cover behind the dumpsters and started shooting.</p><p>“You know, blondie,” the man said from behind the car, “I wanted to tell you this while looking into those gorgeous, blue eyes of yours, but I guess I’ll have to settle for this. I assume you found the seven I killed, true?”</p><p>Balalaika’s eyes narrowed down, as rage overtook her entire body.</p><p>“I take your silence as a yes,” the man said, “They were alive throughout the whole thing, yet that’s not the funny part.”</p><p>Balalaika tried to rise up and move out of the cover; she wanted him dead, dead and torn to shreds. <em>I’ll kill him,</em> she told herself, <em>I’ll mount his head on a pike and shit on it!</em> However, before she could rise up, Boris grabbed her shoulder and pushed her back down.</p><p>“The funny part is,” the man giggled, “The morons kept saying ‘Kapitan will come for us; he’ll kill you.’ Now, here is their Kapitan, hiding behind a dumpster like a lost, little bitch.”</p><p>Balalaika ran out of the cover, shooting at the car and screaming; it was the first time she had lost her temper on the field. She was always calm and collected, but this man knew where to hit and how to provoke her. The soldiers and Boris were forced to stop shooting, since Balalaika was in their line of fire now. As Balalaika moved closer and closer, the man rolled a grenade on the ground; it stopped in front of Balalaika. Boris ran out, pulled Balalaika down, and moved on top of her. Boris’s back was filled with shrapnel. As the soldiers ran out of the cover to tend to Boris the man ran for his bike, which was parked on the other side of the street. Balalaika picked up Boris’s gun, got up, and ran towards the man.</p><p>“Bella!” Boris shouted in agony, “Aim for head, vest!”</p><p>Balalaika’s wound on her arm had opened up; her hands began to shake, and she missed. The man rode into the dark of night as Balalaika ran back to check on Boris.</p><p>“Bella,’ huh?” the man said with a smile, “How interesting.”</p><p>Hours later, as Boris was being operated on, Balalaika received a report about one of her squads running into the man, three more dead; after that, the man had disappeared.</p><p>The door to Chang’s office burst open with no knocking. “Found him!” it was one of Chang’s men.</p><p>“Well, who is he?” Chang asked putting his guns back on the desk.</p><p>“We don’t know yet, but we are closer.”</p><p>“<em>We don’t know?!</em>” Chang clenched his fist.</p><p>“But we have found someone who can tell us,” the triad member replied.</p><p>“Who?”</p><p>“In the middle east, we asked about a guy named ‘El Coco;’ nothing came up, until we reached Iran. As soon as we mentioned the name, we were attacked by the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence; we lost quite a few men.”</p><p>“Doesn’t matter,” Chang said, “Just tell me who he is.”</p><p>“Apparently, this ‘El Coco’ once operated in the middle east; he was known there as ‘Djinn.’ It’s a pre-Islamic demon that-”</p><p>“I know what a fucking djinn is,” Chang was impatient, “Get to the point.”</p><p>“He was involved in the Iranian revolution; being on the losing side, there’s a bounty on his head in most of middle east now, especially in Iran. A few days ago, they found an old hideout of his in Kuwait; there, they found this.” The triad member handed a photograph to Chang.</p><p>“Well,” Chang said with his eyes sparkling and a wide smile appearing on his lips, “looks like it’s time for Johnny to come marching home again. Ready a car; I’m going to the Lovelace mansion personally.”</p>
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